In 2010, I took my wife to see the legendary soccer team A.C. Milan at the Silverdome.

We dodged the long weeds growing from the many cracks in the parking lot, waited way too long to get into the game despite already having tickets because there was only one entry opened. The game had already started when were dropped in the middle of a time warp.

There were small-screen, bubble-tube TVs showing blurry replays. The lighting was eerily dark because it was a night game. Tiny scoreboards. Oh, and of course, feeling like you were being sucked into a wind tunnel exiting via the Silverdomeís infamous vacuum-sealed revolving doors.

It was as outdated as a Ford Pinto, Chevy Vega and AMC Pacer rolled into one.

And like the above-mentioned vehicles, you wonít see the Silverdome in a Dream Cruise of stadiums.

It wasnít quaint and nuanced like Tiger Stadium and the Olympia. It was a very bland stadium with a Teflon-coated top, which was often insufficient.

It wasnít state-of-the-art, like The Palace. It was outdated from the beginning, especially given the suites were placed so far from the action.

It wasnít a wonder of private funding by the owner, either. The Palace was built with private funds by Pistonsí owner William Davidson.

The Lions and Fords took mightily from the City of Pontiac before abandoning it under the guise of returning to Downtown Detroit, but only after the Tigersí owner Mike Ilitch and then-team president John McHale Jr. did considerable dirty work for them.

In fairness to the Lions, they have invested at least $400 million into Ford Field down through the years, and reportedly paid Pontiac $26 million in 2001 upon departing the Silverdome.

Ultimately, the Silverdome badly hurt Pontiac, even though it will forever be known for hosting such marquee events such as the Super Bowl, the World Cup and a visit by the Pope.

After the Lions left in 2002, the city was reportedly still paying over a million dollars per year in maintenance until it was sold, at the height of the Great Recession in 2009, for just $533,000 to Canadian investors, who essentially let the property rot after a couple ill-conceived events, such the above-mentioned soccer friendly.

When the Lions were getting ready to leave, the Pontiac Stadium Authority was reportedly still on the hook for more than $28 million in bonds. It was one of the reasons Pontiac fell in state receivership with the dreaded emergency manager (three of them, actually) from 2009 until 2016.

There were a lot of terrific moments at the Silverdome, most notably tremendous Barry Sandersí runs, and some thrilling Lions victories (they actually won a playoff game there - one). The Silverdome would get incredibly loud during the Lionsí games. That was cool, although the fights in the stands could be a little unnerving.

They used to have a lot of high school football games at the Silverdome, in addition to the state championship games. I enjoyed many of them. The Pistons rose to prominence at the Silverdome.

But there were far more heartbreaking moments at the Silverdome than joyous ones regarding the Lions, and no championships, like those from the Red Wings, which brought such fondness to the equally-poorly designed Joe Louis Arena.

Remember when the Silverdome roof collapsed during the mid-1980s? The times when water would leak onto the field? The nightmare of getting in and out of there? How it had virtually no positive impact on the people of Pontiac, who paid through the nose for it?

Also, it was just too big. The Lions played there during the era of the TV blackout, and most of their home games were not shown on local television as result of it holding more than 80,000 people. The Lions, famously, havenít hosted a home playoff game since following the 1993 season. That game, a loss to the Packers, was not sold out and was blacked out on local TV even though attended by 68,479 at the Silverdome.

I havenít gotten a nostalgic feeling when I drive by what remains of the Silverdome. I do when Iíd go by Tiger Stadium (still, just seeing the ground) or The Palace (remembering those NBA titles).

I see the Silverdome as a mistake we hopefully learned from, at an unfortunate cost to the City of Pontiac. Itís an eyesore which should have come down many years ago.